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| One reality of Christmas (Photo: Simon Meeds) |
Last week we were started off in the Christmas direction by Colin with Sweet Christmas Bells, one of several versions of Nahum Tate's While Shepherds Watched adopted into the Yorkshire Carol repertoire... more of that later.
Talking of versions, and having had two variations of The Red Flag the previous week, Simon sang Mon Beau Sapin, a French version of O Tannenbaum, whose tune is often, though not originally, used for the politically connected anthem. O Tannenbaum was written by Ernst Anschütz in 1824 and translated into French by Laurent Delcasso. It was based on a 16th-century Silesian folk song by Melchior Franck.
Mike brought out his usual, entertaining and join-in-able The Christmas Goose (Roud 3204).
Derek brought forward a song he usually sings later in the evening lest Mothercare vouchers might cease to be accepted, he having researched to check that the failing childcare goods supplier was still accepting them. He feared that this would be his last opportunity to sing Stanley Accrington's Three Wise Women.
We were very pleased to see Tom at the session, despite him not feeling on top form. He started off with a song he hadn't sung for a long time, Your Song (Elton John, Bernie Taupin).
We were very much at home with Mike's rendition of The Gloucestershire Wassail (Roud 209), even though as he admitted, it was a bit early. William Henry Husk in his Songs of the Nativity published in 1868 wrote: "Persons still living remember the Wassailers singing this carol from house to house in some of the villages by the Severn side below Gloucester, nearly fifty years since, and the custom has been uninterruptedly maintained and still subsists in the western parts of the county. On New Year's Eve, December 31st, 1864, the carol was sung in the little village of Over, near Gloucester, by a troop of Wassailers from the neighbouring village of Minsterworth".
The interval was pleasantly supplemented with sausage rolls, mince pies, apple pies and doughnuts, carefully selected by Colin to complement the evening's entertainment.
Before he made his usual early exit with canine chum Indie, Mike gave us a song he acquired from the singing of our old friend Richard Gillion, which was written by John Conolly and Bill Meek, rather than the various comedy folk turns you might expect for it was The Grumpy Old Men Of Old England.
Derek brought out a selection of parody verses of Good King Wenceslas (Roud 24754). Carrying on in a comedic tone, Colin gave us the Kipper Family's version of The Boar's Head Carol (Roud 22229), Simon a Marriott Edgar monologue on the subject of Sam Small's Christmas Pudding and Tom a gentler version of Kevin Bloody Wilson's Ho Ho F****** Ho (please do not follow the link if you are likely to be offended), which Tom calls Ho Ho Flaming Ho.
Simon effectively reprised Colin's song which opened the evening with another Yorkshire Carols version of While Shepherd's Watched. This version is named after the tune it uses, Cranbrook, which was written in 1805 by Canterbury shoe-maker Thomas Clark and was named after a nearby village.
Tom finished off the evening with Tom Paxton's When Annie Took Me Home.
Now listen to a selection of songs sung during this session. If you are of a nervous or squeamish disposition, please watch out for that Kevin Bloody Wilson song. It is not Tom's bowdlerised version.
(Number of people present - 5, of whom 5 performed)
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